Jimmy Carl Black, born James Carl Inkanish, Jr., was a drummer and vocalist for The Mothers of Invention... (wikipedia)
I would have told him that I appreciated his friendship through the years and that I had learned a lot from him. I really loved Frank like you do a brother.
I went to work with a guy named Matt Fuller, who was a Mothers fan, and low and behold, Arthur was working for him also. We worked together for about six months and decided to strike out on our own.
I think he might miss everything he used to do but I don't know that for a fact. His wife is probably the only one that does. A sweet lady.
I think he had one of the best voices I have ever heard. People say that I come close to his sound - and maybe it's true since I admired it so much.
There are many old fans that come to see me play and a lot of his younger fans that have gotten into the old recordings of the M.O.I.
When some guy shows up with a shopping bag full of records and CD's and wants me to sign every one plus fifteen pieces of blank paper I wonder what the hell is he doing with all of that?
I've been writing Indian music for a while. Indian music is about Mother Earth, and mine is no exception.
It was a wild time - a time that I don't miss anymore. But then again, I'm 62 years old now and I think that lifestyle would probably put me where Frank's at now.
It's the so called EXPERTS that say things to me that we did, or Frank did, that are absolutely not true and they will argue with me saying that I'm wrong.
The fans have been very nice to me and I might say that all those fans that Frank said went away is not so.
I had met Arthur in the 60's when I was with the Mothers and had become good friends. He had moved to Austin because his wife was from there.
In my opinion, Lenny Bruce was more of an influence on Zappa's satirical lyric's than anyone that I know of.
I know I didn't like that dress 'cause it didn't fit but I thought it was a great picture. We weren't the first band to do a picture in drag; The Rolling Stones were. If it was good enough for them then it had to be good enough for us.
I haven't seen or spoken to Ray Collins in at least 10 years so I don't even know if he's alive. I hope so.
I really like playing live and don't mind being on the road, if it's with the right band. I do like creating in the studio and enjoy the end results.
Watch MTV and you can see what the music scene is like in England. The Spice Girls? Not a lot of creativity in the commercial area. There are still great musicians in England, but not a lot being heard that much.
First of all; Frank was the BOSS. We didn't question any of his motives or decisions at the time.
I don't know how Frank presented the old Mothers, since I never read the book. There might be some opinions on what he said, but I - or anyone else - could not make any corrections to anything Frank did.
I think a lot of the Mothers stuff that we recorded was written while we were on the road.
We are not a Zappa cover band. We only play Frank's songs that were recorded by the Mothers of Invention and I think a lot of those songs were complex.
My webmaster lives in Munich and is a very dear friend of mine. He is doing a great job on the site and it is constantly being updated and always will.
I got married about three years ago again to a wonderful German woman. Her name is Monika and she is beautiful. She is one of the biggest women Zappa fans I have ever met in my life.
Frank was the BOSS and was not open to anything that was not from his head. There were no arguments about music because if you did, he would show you where the door was. Period.
I think that the old Mothers started that trend of rehearsing long hours. We went as long as the later bands did except we didn't get paid for it like they did.
As far as me knowing if Frank was a genius - in those days, I thought Einstein was the only genius around.
Hendrix was big in England. We all became good friends and I am still in touch with Noel Redding.
I use Windows; '98 second edition and it works very good for me. You know, I just started on the computer about 9 months ago and am fascinated with the possibilities. I don't know what I would do without it now.
I'm doing it with a rock format and the words are about people living in harmony with Mother Earth. It's very important to me - and I feel it should be for every living human on this planet.
My drum sticks are in the "Hall of Fame." I know that.
It would make me feel that creative art has a chance in this crazy world that we all live in.
I really don't have a theme when I start a sculpture. The rock guides me to the final sculpture. I think that is true for many creative sculpture artists.
I had pretty much raised my kids and my first wife and I were divorced, so I began, in earnest, to start my musical career again. Going for the big record deal and all of that.
Most people are really cool and I really don't mind talking to them and answering their questions.
I was hoping for it to be possibly a movie career as I still would like to see that happen. I enjoyed making 200 Motels and did try out for a few things when I lived in LA, but nothing ever happened. I'm still hoping though.
We never got anything out of the recordings. I'm still as broke as I was when I was with the Mothers.
I've done every tour with them since then and will always be with them as long as they're together.